Over at Craig's Blog

Perhapablog

Monday, November 30, 2009

staying in the dream...

okay...

i've been trying to get up each morning and get right to work. or maybe that's 'write to work.' they say that the best time for a writer to get into it, to lose themselves in their own little worlds they create, is right when they wake up, when their minds are still fresh and fuzzy, and as yet untainted by the news or activities of the day. the brain is still coming out of that sleep period, that dream-state, and the imagination is still poised and ready to go...i find this to be true. for me, anyway...so i've been trying my best to skip checking my email first thing in the a.m., skip reading the news, the blogs, the facebook posts. but it's hard--we're all information junkies now, aren't we? we don't feel that we've started our day until we've 'checked in' with the internet, our lightning-fast link to the world. okay, maybe you need to do it, for your work or 'cause that's part of your job, but i'm fighting it. i'm going to start a new habit of not logging on until the end of the day, so that i can keep my mind in that 'creative phase' for as long as i can. i did it over this long weekend; got right up, went to work on some perhapanauts and mon5ter 5 stories and didn't let the world in until way after noon. and it was incredible! fantastic! i felt more imaginative, creative, productive...it was cool.and so, the reason i'm really writing this--or you might think 'wasting your time with this' (i hope not)--is that our little family here is full of talented and creative people, and i'm suggesting you do a little experiment of your own. take a few hours each morning on some upcoming weekend (maybe this will have to wait until after the holidays for some...) and try writing or drawing or painting or whatever you do to express yourself before you let the world in, before you open yourself up to the news of the day, before you're even really awake. try it and see what happens.

i think you'll be amazed...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and the roll continues...alison sent me this the other day.

amazing! can you guess what this picture is made from? Artist assistants stand next to 3,604 cups of coffee which have been made into a giant Mona Lisa in Sydney , Australia . The 3,604 cups of coffee were each filled with different amounts of milk to create the different shades!

8 comments:

That's it, I've surrendered, the white flag is a wavin!!!!!! As I have been forcibly ousted from the most honourable title with which I was charged to uphold, along with all the glorious rights and privileges that accompanied it.

Yes, it is I, Jared W. Adams, or The Artist Formerly Known As Anonymous.

In the wake of the heinous coup that was launched against me through the meager uprising by a party which, as yet, remains... anonymous... I have thus relented my efforts and resorted to writing under the Google administered title, which I have incidentaly been in possession of for just over half a year now...

In any event!!! Todd!!! I found your latest post most fascinating, mainly because it is the EXACT OPPOSITE of the time of day when I cast my being over the jagged precipice and into the great black abyss of the creative process!

In the midnite hour is my time to shine! Always have been, no matter what I'm writing. I've even been known to stay up until daybreak a time or ten before! Quite fascinating indeed that the early morning hours work so well for you! And your reasoning seems sound as always... perhaps I'll give it a try one day.

But until that day arrives...

Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood, And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on. [Hamlet, Act III, sc. ii]

I also find it is late at night that my brain starts firing on all cylinders. Leanne has noticed this too. I'm at my most witty and creative around the witching hour. Oh, and by the way... we picked up some Super Squad this weekend and were laughing out loud. Effing genius!

Though this would probably work wonders for me, my mornings are usually so busy that I'd have to get up at 5:00 a.m. to find out. (Though my cat has been seeing to just that for a couple months now.) I may give it a try if I can crawl out of bed instead of just laying there suffering in sleeplessness.

As it is, lately, the only time I have for doing anything creative is my lunch break. Worst possible time. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to rev up and by then I get maybe half a page written before I have to get back on the clock. Drawing is even more difficult with all the false starts and balled-up paper. How do you people do it?

oh I am so not a morning person. I, too, would have to get up at like 5:00am .. just to get rolling .. so I would be productive, say, around 6:00am. I am, I fear, a night person. I am more awake and productive once everyone is in bed and I have my quiet time around 9:00pmish until midnight - some times 1amish (like now). I envy the morning people, though - Good luck with your "write to work" ..

JWA, Welcome to the named world--sort of, initialed in reality, I guess--regardless, welcome in from the plains of anonymity.

t- thanks for the wake up shove--I can mañana a thing to death and NOT checking emails first to write instead has been one of them. So, with your push, I woke up today and wrote and yes, it felt good to get it going. Maybe now I won't lose full days out in internet land.

Though I would appreciate a reminder e every now and again since along with mañana syndrome, I'm also easily distracted.